Overview

VSCode and its UI are great for coding and interacting with your dev environments. However, it’s not the best place to manage dev servers, permissions, or other account/user administration. This is where Nimbus CLI comes in. With our CLI, we can unleash Nimbus’ potential and add value to your workflow.

In this tutorial, we will show you how you can install Nimbus CLI and get you ready for its various benefit.

Installation & Set up on macOS

Open your terminal and ensure you do not have the Nimbus CLI already installed. Run nimbus version as a quick way to see if the CLI is already installed

If the CLI is not installed, run the following commands to Install Nimbus CLI

brew tap usenimbus/nimbus

brew install nimbus

Once installed, you’ll need to log in before using any CLI functionality. Nimbus will authenticate you through your browser. Run the command below and expect to see the result below.

Command to run: nimbus account login

Expected result: ✅ Successfully authenticated with Nimbus, you can now close this tab

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If you are running a self-hosted instance, run nimbus account login --instance-url https://nimbus.company.tld

UI & Commands in CLI

Menu Bar

Once the CLI is installed and you’re logged in, take a look at your menu bar. You will see a Nimbus menu item. From the menu bar, you can easily launch and manage workspaces.

Start your workspace

To start your workspace, use the Nimbus menu bar. You will be able to start, stop, manage, or open the workspace with VS Code. To launch with a JetBrains IDE, head to the Nimbus Webapp or do so directly from JetBrains Gateway.

CLI Commands

The following commands are available.

account: Manage your Nimbus account(s) help: Help about any command

ssh: SSH into a workspace

sync: Sync a local project with your Nimbus workspace

template: Manage Nimbus Template(s)

version: Show nimbus-cli version

whoami: Get your account details

workspace: Manage Nimbus workspaces

tray: Menubar application [Mac OS only]

SSH Command Details

This command will present a list of your workspaces.

Select an “Active” workspace to instantly connect via SSH to your remote workspace.

You cannot SSH into an “Inactive” workspace.

Sync Command Details

This command lets users sync files to and from their remote Nimbus workspace and a local directory.

To create a sync, you will use the create command. You will also need to include a unique name (”—name”), the local directory path (—local-path), and the remote directory path (—remote-path)

E.g sync create --name nish-sync --local-path ~/Desktop/local/folder_to_sync --remote-path /home/nimbus-user/remote_folder_to_sync
After entering the command, you will be asked to select the remote workspace that you want to sync

The sync can be managed via the Nimbus menu bar or terminal. Available functions include:

list: List all active syncs
pause: This will pause a sync
resume: This will resume a paused sync
status: This will confirm the status of a sync (e.g. paused or active)
terminate: This will terminate a sync

Nimbus CLI (macOS)